Recovering a lost commit

Learn to recover a deleted commit with reflog.

How can a lost commit be recovered?

After git reset --hard, a commit may appear to have disappeared from the normal branch history. However, if the commit is still available in reflog, you can reach it again using its commit identifier. First find the entry with git reflog, then inspect the commit.

git reflog

git show a1b2c3d

a1b2c3d is an example commit identifier; use the identifier from your own reflog output.

Make a commit accessible again

You can create a new branch at the commit you found to make it accessible again. The command git branch recover a1b2c3d creates a recover branch pointing to the specified commit without changing your current position. This protects the commit with a branch reference.

git branch recover a1b2c3d
git switch recover

Protecting the commit with a branch first reduces the risk of accidentally losing your current work during recovery.

Exercise Recover a lost commit

The example uses a1b2c3d as the lost commit identifier. First point a new branch named kurtar to this commit, then switch to that branch. Write both commands in the correct order.

Show example solution

# Kayıp commit'i koru
git branch kurtar a1b2c3d

# Kurtarma dalına geç
git switch kurtar

Test yourself

How can a commit lost after reset be found?
- By deleting the .gitignore file
- By running git config --global
- By inspecting the git reflog output
- By running git remote remove
Show answer

By inspecting the git reflog output — Reflog can show HEAD positions from before the reset. This allows you to find the identifier of a commit that appears to be lost.
Attach the commit to a recovery branch
```
git branch kurtar ____
```
Show answer
```
git branch kurtar a1b2c3d
```
Parts of the recovery process

git reset --hard

Resets the working tree
git reflog

Finds previous positions
git show

Inspects commit contents
git branch kurtar

Points a branch to a commit

Next lesson: HEAD history

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